Mood Meter
Overview
The Mood Meter was created by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and is part of their RULER approach to help kids Recognize, Understand, Label, Express, and Regulate emotions.
Supplies
For the game:
Game pieces or small toys/trinkets (like from Monopoly, Clue, Sorry, etc. or anything small enough to fit in one of the squares on the Mood Meter you made!)
Dice
For the chart:
Ruler
Large paper
Coloring Supplies
Directions
Create an 8x8 grid like the example above - make sure your squares are at least big enough to write the words in!
Fill in the feeling words using the example above.
Color in the squares using color mixing and shading - Start in the top left corner coloring moving from red (top left) to yellow (top right) and the bottom left from blue (bottom left) to green (bottom right)
Watch the video from Cindy at The Kid Factory to learn how to play the Mood Meter board game she invented!
Discussion
Looking at the mood meter, think about the different emotions and how they move from low energy to high energy, and unpleasant to pleasant.
Hint: try to stay away from the terms “good” and “bad” - positive and negative are okay, but try to reduce any language that labels any feelings bad or invalid. All feelings are valid, even if they aren’t how we want to be feeling, they’re there for a reason. If you’re feeling something you don’t want to be feeling, think of specific ways you can help yourself move into a higher or lower energy space, or a more positive space.
What is a time you remember feeling one of the emotions in the red/yellow/green/blue zone?
What caused that feeling?
How did it feel physically in your body?
What did you do?
Did you want to keep feeling that way or feel a different way?
Learn more
Watch this video from Yale to learn more about the Mood Meter.